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Flygrain

Joined
Nov 16, 2013
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41
Hello
My name is Jay and I have just VERY recently become intrigued with knives and the potential of making them. I am an artistic wood worker and have now realized the possibilities of combining woodworking with steel. After quite a few hours of online research, I bought a basic full tang blank and dug up some nice buckeye burl scrap from some fly boxes I made. I stabilized it with wood stabilizer in a home made vacuum chamber and went to work.
There were a couple natural incursions in the buckeye burl so I filled them with Inlace (liquid inlay). i thought it looked odd to have only a couple small spots of inlay, so I gouged out a few more voids to fill.

here is what came out. Please go easy on me guys, this is my first attempt and one week ago, working with knives never even occurred to me. Now theyre all I can think about!







Please give opinions and advise. i hope to be able to glean some knowledge from you guys. i looked thru some of the knives made by members here and they are VERY inspirational!

Jay
 
Wow that is so intense and gorgeous! Amazing first attempt! If I had any advice to give it would be to not sharpie your name on the scale like that I would find a way to engrave it into the top of the tang especially if you can find somebody that does laser etching. The only other thing I would personally change and this is purely a personal taste thing is either brass pins or I think mosaic pins would really make it pop. Overall that is super nice though great job! Now you need a really nice damascus steel blank :).
 
Thank you guys! I am actually really happy you would prefer brass pins as brass is so much easier to find in my locale and I now have aquired a couple more blanks to work on :) I aquired some brass rod for my next project but wasnt sure it would look right with the SS blade. your suggestion has convinced me to go ahead with it.

The name on the knife is actually engraved with a pyrography tool. I had no idea how nice this was going to finish out when i engraved it. If I did I wouldve been more precise. I actually have excellent engraving skills and plan to encorperate that into my knife scales. heres an example..









One other thing. In my excitement about this knife, I just had to make some kinda display. I just started cutting into wood with no plan (I know I know!) I was initially going to make a presentation box with a form fitting liner (which I still plan to do) but somehow gave birth to this thing...



 
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Welcome first of all. Very good work with the knife. Very beautiful wood working skills. Many makers transition from these types of professions or hobbies depending on seriousness and amount of income into knife making. I am just hobbyist myself and very content with that. It is a very addictive hobby and I love collecting. Do not stop here ( I know you won't) You have a lot of potential. Now all you need to do is start making your own knife blanks. Have fun and enjoy yourself, your work will certainly be enjoyed and appreciated.
 
Wow talented indeed that is just stunning! I take back my statement about your name on the knife if it isn't written with sharpie. On my little screen that's just how it appeared. Your wood working skills are just awesome and i have to ask what the type of wood is in this picture?


It is gorgeous and would make for some nice handle scales I think. That knife display is very cool too I've never seen one quite like that. How much time did something like that take you?
 
Thanks jkulysses. The wood in question is spalted maple. One of my favorites! And I agree it would make a wonderful scale. I was just thinking how nice a knife could look with some of this wood and a creative engraving. I spent a full day on that knife block. still not sure if it was a day wasted. lol
 
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